BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — A 33-year-old woman, deemed by authorities as suffering from post-natal depression, allegedly killed her husband and their one-year-old child, and injured their three other children, in Brgy. Bacuyangan Hinobaan town, Negros Occidental Saturday morning, police said.
Suspect Arlene Galan, after preparing their breakfast at around 8 a.m., hit her husband, Johnny, 50, with an iron bar, and when he was unconscious, stabbed him several times with a pair of scissors and cut off his genitals.
Case investigator PO3 Eddie Napolis said Arlene also stabbed her twins, both one-year-old, and her 4-month-old infant, who were sleeping beside each other. Using an iron bar, she later struck on the nape her eldest son, 11, who had just returned home from buying milk.
The eldest son however managed to escape, despite his head injuries, by jumping out of their house through the window and asked for help from their neighbors.
Johnny and one of their twins died while being treated at the Eleuterio Decena District Hospital in Hinobaan, while the rest of the injured children survived. They are now recuperating at the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Bacolod.
Hinobaan policemen, who immediately responded to the incident, recovered the scissors and the iron bar used by Arlene, who is now detained at the Hinobaan Police station. Investigators said the suspect was suffering from post-partum psychosis after giving birth to her youngest son four months ago. She earlier planned to commit suicide, said the report.
In an interview with Aksyon Radyo, Arlene said she lost her senses and did not know what she was doing. She claimed that she had not slept for five days and had not taken her meals on time prior to the bloody incident.
Arlene narrated that after giving birth to her youngest child, she started to feel disgusted and frustrated over the worsening poverty that her family had been experiencing. She said she loved her husband and her family very much and she could not understand why she had committed the gruesome act.
Wikipedia says postpartum depression, also called postnatal depression, is a type of clinical depression which can affect women typically after childbirth. Symptoms include sadness, fatigue, crying episodes, anxiety, and irritability, as well as delusions or strange beliefs, hallucinations, feeling very irritated, hyperactivity, paranoia and suspiciousness, and rapid mood swings.
The family of the victims was reportedly not interested in pressing charges against Arlene and decided to bring her instead to a mental facility in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, to prevent her from further inflicting injuries on others. (FREEMAN)